On the occasion of rebirth Zhou Sui

Chapter 386 Four states rise up for justice

In the Qingzhou Salt Farm, 1,500 soldiers from the First Battalion of the Salt Corps and 3,000 salt workers gathered under a high platform. An old man on the platform shouted hoarsely.

The old man was Qin Ai. Facing the crowd, he said sadly:

"You salt workers and salt soldiers, you suffer from slavery every day, and your families must be suffering equally!

“The salt workers work hard to dry the salt in the salt fields, but they can’t eat it themselves and have to buy it from the government.

“The salt farm supplied the imperial court with massive amounts of salt every year, and the imperial court reaped huge profits through overseas trade.

"The rich and powerful use the crystallization of your sweat to enjoy extravagantly, but for you, even food and clothing have become a luxury.

“When you die of old age and exhaustion in the salt field, your descendants will also enter the salt field and repeat the suffering you are suffering now, starving and exhausted for generations to come!

"If Duke Yan was still in Qingzhou, he would definitely not want you to suffer like this.

"They are all those insects in the court, they ignore your plight and ignore your life and death!

"So! Everyone! It's time to save your own life!

"Capture Qingzhou! Welcome Duke Yan!"

Qin Ai's highly inflammatory speech also successfully aroused the anger in the hearts of the 4,500 people present. They all followed Qin Ai and raised their arms and shouted:

"Capture Qingzhou! Welcome Duke Yan!"

This scene also happened in Mizhou, Laizhou, and Juzhou, and the words were all the same.

It was drawn up by Cui Che before Qin Ai and Cheng Lou set off.

The angry Qingzhou salt soldiers and salt workers, led by Qin Ai, left the salt field and marched towards Yidu County, where Qingzhou was governed.

Along the way, people who were dissatisfied with the imperial court continued to join them.

Since Lai Huer transferred the main force of Qi Di, the rebel army encountered almost no resistance.

When the Qingzhou garrison saw that the rebels were coming fiercely and there were internal rebellions in the city, they were so frightened that they abandoned the city and fled.

The rebel army captured Yidu County without bloodshed. Qin Ai immediately opened the arsenal in the city and armed all the salt workers and temporary recruits.

In fact, since civilians were not allowed to hide weapons privately, there were only 1,500 salt soldiers who actually held weapons before.

The situation in Mi, Lai, Ju and Qingzhou is generally the same. Cui Che settled in these four states twenty years ago, and now it is the harvest season.

In just three days, Qingzhou, Mizhou, Laizhou, and Juzhou changed their flags.

At this time, Lai Hu'er had just arrived in Yecheng. It was only two days away. However, after Lai Hu'er approached Xiangzhou, he was afraid of Cui Che's ambush, so he naturally did not dare to maintain the marching speed of sixty miles per day.

Lai Hu'er knew nothing about the changes on the south bank of the Yellow River, but Qin Ai had already led the Qingzhou rebel army to the north to seize the temporary location of the Qingzhou General Administration, Licheng County, the seat of Qizhou.

Sima Cui Junsu, the Sima Cui Junsu who stayed behind in Licheng, had learned about the rebellion of the Qingzhou salt soldiers and salt workers from the Qingzhou guard general who had escaped.

This young man from a famous family couldn't believe this at all. He grabbed the Qingzhou guard's shirt without any grace and roared:

"What nonsense are you talking about!"

The Qingzhou guard was extremely frightened and said tremblingly:

"I dare not deceive Cui Changshi. It is true that the general has seen with his own eyes that there are only old and weak people in Qingzhou, and there are internal agents in the city. When the general saw that the city could not be defended, he rushed to Licheng to report to the chief."

Cui Junsu finally let go of his hand, his expression dumbfounded.

The Qingzhou salt soldiers and salt workers rebelled at this juncture. There is no doubt that it must be Cui Che.

In this case, Cui Junsu also knows to some extent what the situation is like in the three states of Mi, Lai, and Ju.

Lai Hu'er leads an army of 140,000 to the north. It looks mighty, but half of them are soldiers from the four states of Qing, Mi, Lai, and Ju. If they learn that the rear has fallen, it will have a blow to morale. Even Cui Junsu is not

Literary men who are proficient in military affairs can foresee it.

Cui Che effortlessly captured the four prefectures of Qi, making it difficult for Cui Junsu to imagine how many hidden traps Cui Che had laid in the four prefectures of Qing, Mi, Lai, and Ju.

Who can guarantee that there will be no internal support from Cui Che in the army that will follow to protect the children in the Northern Expedition.

Cui Junsu hurriedly sent people northward, hoping to let Lai Hu'er return to the army as soon as possible.

It's just that Licheng County is more than 400 miles away from Yecheng, so the courier rushed quickly and could certainly report the situation to protect the child within one day.

However, even if the 140,000 troops who came to protect the children abandoned their military resources, did not send out scouts, and maintained a rapid march of hundreds of miles a day, it would still take four days to return.

But how could Cui Che let Lai protect his son escape so easily?

However, Cui Junsu no longer had time to worry about the Northern Expedition army who came to protect his son. Another messenger came to report that Qin Ai led the Qingzhou rebel army to invade the country and was now heading straight for Licheng County.

Qizhou was originally Qi County, under the jurisdiction of Qingzhou. After the county was dismissed in the early Sui Dynasty, until Cui Che left office, Licheng, Zhu'a and other counties were separated from Qingzhou and Qizhou was established.

When Cui Che came to Qidi to provide disaster relief, he fought with Yan Rong, the then general manager of Qingzhou, from a distance, using Zhu'a and Licheng counties as his base camp.

It can be said that Cui Che's foundation in Zhu'a and Licheng counties even surpassed that of other states and counties south of the Yellow River.

At the same time, Qin Ai was from the Qin family in Licheng. After coming to protect his children and taking away the elite soldiers of Qizhou, Qin Ai led the Qingzhou rebels to fight back to Qizhou. Not only did Cui Junsu lead the old and weak to defend the city, he also had to guard against his subordinates.

Cut off his own head to claim credit.

At this time, Cui Junsu also realized the difficulty of guarding Qingzhou. The city could not be defended at all. He gritted his teeth and stamped his feet:

Then let me go!

Cui Junsu did not run away alone, he also took with him and his family members who came to protect his children.

He did not dare to go to Hebei. Cui Junsu knew that Lai Huer was in a precarious situation, and all he could do was fulfill his duty of vigilance.

On October 23, the fourth year of Renshou (AD 604), when the Qingzhou rebel army was still eighty miles away from Licheng County, Cui Junsu had already abandoned the city and fled to Caozhou.

The next day, all of Qizhou fell, and the two counties of Zhu'a and Licheng had already changed their flags before Qin Ai arrived.

At the same time, Lai Hu'er, who was preparing to besiege Yecheng, finally learned of the huge changes in the rear. He felt that his eyes were darkened and he almost lost his footing.

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

Even with Cui Junsu's handwritten letter, Lai Huer still didn't want to believe it.

However, after being incompetent and furious, we can only accept the reality.

The reality today is that it is easy to come by but difficult to leave.

Fortunately, the second batch of envoys informed him that although Cui Junsu had abandoned Qizhou, he had fled to Caozhou with his family members who came to protect his children, and was seeking help from the states and counties west of Caozhou, so that he did not have to worry about the safety of his family.

Even though Lai Hu'er had been very careful to conceal it from his subordinates, so that his soldiers would not know what was happening at the rear, it was all in vain. The news that Qing, Qi, Mi, Lai, and Ju had fallen successively was still due to Cui Che's enthusiastic help.

Next, the news spread throughout the Sui army camp.

(End of chapter)